1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of peristaltic pumps and related components. More specifically, the present invention relates to an improved cartridge used with peristaltic pumps that allows for seamless, quick, and simple replacement of any associated fluid tubing between successive uses of the peristaltic pump.
2. Description of Related Art
Peristaltic pumping systems with associated tubing and fluid supply reservoirs are commonly employed during medical procedures to pump fluid to different sites within a patient upon whom the medical procedure is being performed. The pumped fluid provides irrigation to support an exploratory procedure for an associated medical scoping device, such as an endoscope and the like. The peristaltic pump is usually provided with a rotating mandrel with one or more rollers spaced around the periphery of the mandrel and attached to the mandrel with a shaft. Fluid, such as sterilized/de-ionized water or a saline solution, is supplied to the peristaltic pump from the fluid storage reservoir via associated tubing. Generally, the tubing is secured to the front surface of a cartridge or adapter that is then releasably attached to the peristaltic pump. The tubing is generally situated onto the cartridge so that its shape matches the path made by the rollers as they rotate around the pump mandrel. When the cartridge is mated with the peristaltic pump, the rollers press up against the tubing, and squeeze the tubing flat between the rollers and the front surface of the cartridge at the spot where the rollers contact the tubing. The squeezing motion imparted onto the tubing by the rollers provides a peristaltic movement of the fluid through the tubing, thus providing positive fluid flow to the site within the patient where the fluid is required to conduct the medical procedure.
During the medical procedure it is possible for a portion of the tubing to physically come into contact with the patient and thus become contaminated by the patient's bodily fluids. Contamination of the fluid can also result from pressure differentials within the tubing causing fluid to be drawn into the tubing from within the patient. Tubing contamination poses a serious health risk to other patients when the fluid delivery system is subsequently used on those other patients. This is especially risky with the proliferation of communicable diseases such as AIDS, hepatitis, tuberculosis, and other such infectious conditions.
While the tubing can be disinfected between uses, the tubing cannot be sterilized or be autoclaved due to its physical limitations. Further, disinfecting the tubing is not always effective since some contaminates can still reside within the tubing even after most disinfecting techniques. Thus the only way to ensure that cross contamination between patients on whom the peristaltic pump is used, is to replace the used tubing with new unused clean tubing after each use. This presents a problem with prior art cartridge systems, since the tubing is permanently mechanically fastened to the rear surface of the cartridge, either integrally molded within or glued on, and thus cannot be readily removed from the cartridge. The tubing is mechanically fastened to the cartridge to maintain the tubing in place against the cartridge when the peristaltic pump operates on the tubing. Because the cartridge itself is expensive, attempts have been made in the past to disinfect the tubing between uses rather than discard the cartridge after its associated tubing has been used—and possibly contaminated with a contagious infection. This is done despite the risk of infecting patients from contaminated tubing. Ultimately however, the cartridge is finally replaced when the tubing can no longer be cleaned or becomes damaged in some fashion. Disposing of the entire cartridge is wasteful since the cartridge itself generally does not become contaminated, and could be used many more times than the tubing. The cartridge is generally thrown away with the tubing since it is difficult to separate the tubing from the cartridge. Discarding the cartridge due to the inability to sterilize the associated tubing results in the unused capacity of the total life of a cartridge unit.
Therefore, there exists a need for a device and method to improve the safety of procedures performed using peristaltic pumping devices, without hindering or slowing the operation of the pump and without adding a significant cost burden. A further need exists to better maximize the lifetime operation of cartridges used with peristaltic pumping devices.